Bum Phillips: Cowboys players need to ‘do their part’

The father of embattled Dallas Cowboys coach Wade Phillips — or former coach, if reports out of Valley Ranch today are true — said players need to step up their game.

Bum Phillips, the former coach of the Houston Oilers, said in a telephone interview from his ranch in Goliad that players need to “do their part.”

“I mean, the coach don’t get credit for all the winning,” the 87-year-old father of Wade Phillips said. “He gets credit for all the losing. It’s time for the players to step up. My God, the mistakes they made in that (Green Bay) ball game and the other six (losses), the coach didn’t make any of them.

“And he certainly prepared them the same way as he did when they were 13-3. Ain’t got nothing to do with his ability to coach. It’s their ability to play that’s been lacking.”

Media outlets have reported that Wade Phillips has been fired, although the team has yet to make an announcement.

Bum Phillips said he doesn’t know what has transpired. He said he talked to his son on the phone this morning, and, at the time, got no indication that the Cowboys had made a change.